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“No,” I said quietly, cutting through the silence. “We can’t wait. We don’t have enough food, we don’t have reinforcements, and we don’t have the luxury of time. If we sit on our hands out here and hope something wanders out, we’re going to die slow—and empty-handed.”

Varek’s smirk faded. Ryan nodded grimly.

Hale shifted slightly, squaring his shoulders. “Then we go in.”

“We don’t all go inside,” Silas finally said, lifting his gaze. “We send a small team. Two or three at most. The rest wait outside, covering the exit.”

Rowan frowned. “You’re assuming they only have one exit.”

Varek’s lip curled. “Now there’s a fun thought.”

I shivered. He wasn’t wrong. These creatures weren’t mindless. They were hunters, and potentially even intelligent predators. The likelihood that this mine had multiple tunnels, multiple ways in and out:very high.

Silas exhaled through his nose, rubbing his jaw. “Then we adapt. We set up a secondary trap outside in case something tries to slip past us. The goal is to drive one out, not get cornered inside.”

Hale let out a low whistle. “And if more than one comes after us?”

Silas’s mouth turned down. “Then we make sure at least one of us gets out alive to warn the others.”

The silence that followed was heavy.

Rowan exhaled in a rush. “I’ll go in.”

Varek rolled his shoulders. “Figures. I’ll go too.”

Silas nodded, his expression resigned. “And me.”

I bristled, my fingers clenching in my lap. “I should?—”

Silas turned to me before I could finish, his lips turned down and his brows pinched together. “No.”

I scowled. “But Silas?—”

“You’re not coming.” His tone brooked no argument. “You’ll stay outside with the others.”

I opened my mouth, ready to make my case, ready to fight him on this, but then I really looked at him. His shoulders were drawn up with apprehension. He was flexing his fingers against his knee, like he was already preparing himself for what was coming. He wasn’t being overbearing or dismissing me in any way; he was protecting me.

Damn it, I hated that I understood that. I didn’t actuallywantto make this even harder on him. So unlike me.

I gulped down my argument and exhaled through my nose. “Fine.”

Silas’s gaze drilled into me, lingering distrust evident in his eyes, but he nodded.

“Good,” he murmured.

Ryan stood, stretching. “I’ll take first watch.”

The others muttered in agreement, shifting into place, preparing for what would likely be a long and sleepless night.

Silas shifted beside me, his fingers brushing against my arm, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Come on,” he said, nodding toward his pack. “Help me set up the tent.”

Shoving my worries aside, I pushed to my feet. The others were settling into their own spots for the night. Rowan had already started unpacking his gear, and Varek was leaning against a tree, sharpening a knife, looking far too relaxed given the circumstances.

Silas led me a few steps away from the fire, finding a relatively flat stretch of ground under the overhang of a jagged rock face. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best we were going to get in this terrain.

We worked in silence, spreading out the thick canvas, securing it with stakes and rope, moving with the quiet efficiency of two people who had done this a thousand times before.

Every so often, Silas’s hands would brush against mine as we tightened a knot, his hand strong and warm, sending little thrums of awareness through me. He didn’t say anything about it, but I knew he felt it too.